Happy 2026! Letting Go, New Beginnings, Insights & More

Core Article: Happy 2026! Letting Go, New Beginnings, Insights & More

Paragraph I’m Pondering: “Take a moment…” by Melody Beattie

Happy 2026! Letting Go, New Beginnings, Insights & More

Happy 2026, we meet another year rolls by, and what does it have in store? What are you most looking forward to this year? 

You’ve been on my mind during the holidays. 

End of December and the beginning of January always feel like a time to pause, breathe, and reflect. 

Take a moment to ask yourself:

• What inspired and truly worked for me last year?
• What’s calling me this year? Maybe it’s a new project, a shift in focus, or simply more space to breathe?

For me, the New Year isn’t about crafting the perfect five-year plan or flashy goals. It’s about staying curious and focusing on what matters most—connection, impact, and showing up for the people and projects I care about.

This year, more than any other that I can remember, I started feeling regret… (Maybe it’s an aging thing.) For the things that I didn’t get done and the things that didn’t even make time to try, ouch… And the people I meant to reach out to, who somehow fell off my list.

That’s when my therapist recommended that I listen/read Daniel Pink’s book The Power of Regret – hmmm.

I love reading Daniel Pink’s books because they are grounded in research, and he always pulls in behavior and the brain, how we think, why we do what we do, and what actually drives change. 

This book was no different, and I found myself underlining whole sections like, yep, that’s it.

At its core, the book talks about the regret that haunts most people. It’s often the regret of inaction, the chances not taken, the words not said, the connections postponed until they quietly disappear.

He shares how regrets fall into four core categories:
1. Foundation Regrets (Stability) Example: “I could have started saving earlier.”

2. Boldness Regrets (Growth) Example: “Why didn’t I apply for that job or start the business sooner?”

3. Moral Regrets (Goodness)  Example: “I wish I’d spoken up when I saw what was happening.”

4. Connection Regrets (Love) Example: “I could have reached out to my old friend sooner, while I still had the chance.”

Around this time of year, you start hearing all the usual stuff. Goal setting, picking a word for the year, doing a recap, and making plans.

I still do my year-end review ritual, and I always thank Debbie Phillips for her “Great Start” Program. which I still use every year. This year, I added one more lens: regret.

Looking at Pink’s regret categories, two stood out for me right away. I kept coming back to #2, Boldness, and #4, Connection Regrets.

When I got honest about my own regrets of inaction, most of them lived in #4 Connection Regret. This one is so common you almost don’t notice you’re living it, because life moves, you move with it, and then your logical brain decides it’s “too late” to go back.

Since you’re following along, where do yours land?

Is there a conversation you keep putting off? Or a message you’ve rewritten ten times and still can’t send, or someone who mattered to you, who shaped you, who made a real impact, and they never actually heard you say it out loud?

Those were the regrets hanging over me as 2025 came to an end. So I decided to act on one. 

There was one person who made a huge impact on me, and they probably never knew it. Her name is Carol Cumes. She was my guide 25 years ago on my first and only trip to Peru. 

The tour was called A Magical Journey, and in September of 2000, it truly lived up to its name. That trip was a pivotal time in my life, and I wrote an excerpt for my writing class, which comes with some heavy feelings because that season was a lot.

I went on this trip by myself. I was 36, and Carol took me under her wing. Along the way, I sat next to her and her partner, Mark, and we had wonderful chats as we headed to many historical ruins. 

I never told her exactly what I was going through at that time. Yet, her intuition was spot on. I wanted to tell her thank you for what we experienced and how much she impacted me at a turning point in my life, even if she had no idea she was doing it.

The moment that stuck out for me was when I lost my rose quartz bracelet, which my dad gave me before the trip. 

It was my anchor of love and safety, especially because he had helped me get ready for the trip.

That night at dinner, Carol pulled me aside. She held out her hands with this little box and simply said, “Pacha Mama insisted that I give this to you.”

Inside the box was a beautiful rose quartz crystal. She had gotten it early that day from a shop at the base of Machu Picchu. It meant so much to me that I still have it on my desk today.

For years, I had always wanted to make it back there to go on another trip with Carol and Mark. Twenty-five years later, that wasn’t going to happen. 

After a lot of searching for her email, I finally sent a message to her tour group and asked if they’d pass along my note and some pictures.

They replied within 24 hours and said that Carol was now 80 and retired from tours, that her son had taken over, and that they would forward everything to him so he could share it with her.

I was so thrilled that I’d written to her and got a response, even with my left-brain feeling saying, “It’s been too long, this will be weird, she won’t keep you quiet…”

Sending that note did something I didn’t expect, and it’s the part I want to share with you: 

Moving into a new year gives you a chance to clear regrets, the emotional clutter that can drag behind you.

Relief is the word I keep coming back to, since there is a particular lightness that shows up when you say what you meant and your body stops carrying the open tab.

After I hit send, I felt that exhale, and I felt a small reclaiming too, like I was finally taking myself seriously enough to stop postponing what mattered to me.

So, as you step into 2026, who is your Carol, the person whose impact lives in you, and the delay of gratitude has quietly turned into a habit?

A name usually rises fast, before your mind starts negotiating.

Go gently with yourself, because inaction regret builds one tiny postponement at a time, and that pattern can be sneaky.

If you want to make this easy, write three sentences and call it done. 

Start with where you were when you met, or what time of your life it was, then name what they did, said, taught, modeled, or made possible, and finish with what stayed with you and why you’re reaching out now.

Here’s a starter line you can borrow if it helps you move.
“I don’t know if you remember me, and I’ve thought about you for years, and I wanted you to know the way you impacted me when——still matters to me now.”

There’s also a business layer to this that matters more than you may realize. 

What are you putting off because of fear, and what’s it costing you, not just financially, but also emotionally, physically, and even spiritually?

Maybe it’s:

• Launching something that matters to you.
• Raising your prices.
• Getting visible, being honest, or finally letting something go.

The same muscle that sends a real thank-you note is the one that ships the imperfect post, records the simple video, names what’s honest, and stops waiting for the day you will feel okay to share something more personal.

If you’ve been living in almost-published, almost-visible, almost-ready land, let this be the year you choose one honest action that gets you over that hump and out into the world that needs you.

I want to share with you that you don’t need a mountaintop moment to find clarity.

Sometimes, it simply starts with a single question and the courage to answer it honestly.

If you’re standing at your own edge right now… I see you.

It’s not your time to give up. It’s your time to begin.

You don’t have to do everything today, and doing one brave thing counts.

I’d love to hear what’s on your mind for this year. If you want to share your vision or just talk it out, hit reply. I’m here.

When you’re ready for that, I’m right here with you.

Hands at your back always. 🙂

Paragraph I’m Pondering

“Take a moment. Review where you’ve been this past year. Be grateful for all you’ve experienced and the people who have come into your life. Search your heart. Let go of any resentments. Take a moment and reflect on your successes. Be grateful for them; be grateful for all the ordinary moments, too. Take a look at your goal list. Some things have taken place. Other things may not have materialized yet. Don’t give up yet. Let go. Tomorrow, you can make a new list.”
~ Melody Beattie More Language of Letting Go

Weekly Photos

1. These are my two nephews, Cooper, 8 years old, Jackson, 11 years old, my little sister Meghan, and me in this cool, well-lit holiday tunnel. Makes for some interesting purple photos.
2. Love this velcro King Charles Cavalier, Bella, who reminded me a lot of Emma, Loves to be on your lap at all times.
3. Then there’s big Bernese Mountain Dog, Beaux. This is actually using the ChatGPT Image maker. I took a photo, asked it to create a graphic, and uploaded his pic along with the example graphic I wanted. I think it came out pretty awesome.
4. I do love the new image GPT. This is a picture of Alice and me earlier this year at my niece’s wedding in Princeton. The background was pretty bad, lots of people and food tables. I uploaded it to the new Image GPT and asked for several background ideas, and I liked this one the best. Way easier than Photoshop!
5. Couldn’t resist this shot. This was not a staged shot. I just happened to see him lying like that in front of the Christmas tree – timing is everything.
6. Then here’s a fun selfie with my little sister, Alice, and her two boys. Love the look on Cooper’s face – boys…
7. Yep, it’s winter, and Shasta Bally, with all the rain during Christmas, dumped a ton of snow. She looks so pretty against the blue sky.

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